I’m deleting ALL Being Latino accounts!
…was a thought that once crossed through my mind.
Starting a company that isn’t generating any profit, in a business space that previously never existed is hard enough. Now doing all of this AND paying MUCH attention to people who were “hating” can take it’s toll on a 25 year old (at the time). Damn, talk about not having a thick skin — my skin was freaking silk. I remember getting to a point and asking myself, “if this has the opportunity to change things for the positive, for Latinos, and can help a massive amount of people, why is there so much pushback and WHY are so many people hating?” Video blogs of people attacking me and criticizing how I need to do things differently, written blogs of people attacking me and telling me how I need to do things differently, emails of people telling me how I need to run BL, what my next steps should be (God forbid I didn’t take their advice, then I had to worry about inheriting a new enemy) and everything else under the sun. I can clearly remember the time when Being Latino’s facebook page surpassed 18,000 fans and when I should have been happy, I was so stressed and depressed from being attacked from multiple angles that I thought, “that is it, I’m deleting all Being Latino Accounts!”
Eff that — I dug through it. And because of that experience, I realized that it could not be done by myself. I actively sought people that I wanted to be on my team.
Well here I am, a couple years later and with the MOST badass team of hip and enthusiastic professionals and entertainers, both young and old, who are now creating a space that once had a blank canvas. Thank God I did not stop believing… that would have sucked if I did!
Sh*t Latinos Do Say is Gracias!
They said it was too late. They said that the trend was over. They said it couldn’t be done.
Ok, that was a little dramatic, but holds some truth.
Sh*t Latinos Don’t Say is getting some serious traction since going public as of yesterday.
Without the help of a brilliant team, this would not be made possible. A special thanks to the following people for their role in making this happen on a zero dollar budget, shooting and editing in under 2 days.
Cesar Vargas: Writer/Director/Editor
Viviana Cordero: Writer/Production Coordinator/Actress
Advocate of Wordz: Lead Actor
Lauren Rivera: Writer/Actress
Nelson Figueroa: Writer/Actor
Jose Roldan: Actor
Robert Rios: Actor/Sound
Eileen Rivera: Actress/Coordinator
Divino Denegro: Actor
Special Thanks to all of the Facebook fan pages that also posted, listed below:
Be on the lookout for FRESH & NEW content every week from this team. Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel and enjoy the ride!
How to deal with family drama both on and off of Facebook during the holiday season
This Holiday season, I have seen many status updates from my friends referencing family on Facebook. Some are good and some 
are not so great. I’d like to share with you my personal rulebook regarding Familia, and the best ways to deal with issues during this often “cold” holiday season both on Facebook and off.
#1 – Take responsibility for your actions
Facebook should not be used to create any additional family drama to your already overly-dramatic family. With that said, just because one doesn’t use Facebook as means of perpetuating family drama, does not mean that they are innocent to adding fuel to the fire. Instead of looking at what EVERYONE else is doing wrong, take a step back to identify what YOU have done wrong and what YOU can be doing better. Never taking blame then lecturing people on behavior is hypocritical and counterproductive. If you want real change, you need to start taking responsibility of your own.
Top 5 Motivational YouTube Videos
In no particular order and not necessarily videos that were created or went viral in 2011. These are just my Top 5 list of AWESOME motivational videos.
Just As Easy As Pumpkin Flan, Right?
It’s not the amount of challenges that people deal with in their daily lives, that defines their character, it’s how they handle them.
Every day is a challenge, every relationship comes with challenges, every business move comes with challenges, hell every trip on the Uptown D-Train comes with challenges. Challenges are something that we, as humans, experience in every aspect of our lives every single day that we remain breathing on this planet.
Want to talk challenging? I grew up Puerto Rican in Ohio. This needs no further clarification.
Two sides to every story
Greetings all.
Last week there was a very emotionally-driven blog, attacking me and Being Latino, written by an ex-contributor to the online magazine. The blog included some harsh accusations, name calling and much more, maliciously intended to be seen by a large group of people. Friends and colleagues were reaching out to me asking me about this man’s rant and how I was going to respond. My response was that if I reacted every time I was attacked in the social media space, I wouldn’t have the time to do anything else. With that said, I want to share a personal statement about what you can expect to see from me whenever someone takes a private, and personal, disagreement with me to a public forum.
Let’s clear the air about a few things about Being Latino
by @lancerios
2011 has been a great year so far… or so I think.
What has happened so far in 2011? Well for one, Being Latino, Inc. teamed up with Felix Sanchez and the National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts to write a letter to the Kennedys about why more Latinos need to be recognized for their accomplishment in the arts.
What else has happened? Being Latino has been recognized by Fox News as one of the leading communities living in the social media space for Latinos. Being Latino has also started a partnership with Fox News Latino online where we will be exchanging a portion of our content once a week. Oh wait did I say Fox News? I thought that this was good news!
Since announcing the partnership, I have been met with an equal amount of support and opposition. Many of my friends from South Florida, parts of the south and southwest have immediately called to congratulate me for the partnership. Off the bat, they did not know much about the partnership but gave me credit for being open-minded about working with a traditionally conservative network. In the same breath many of my friends from the east coast and a few other cities between NYC and LA asked me if I was crazy. “How could you do that to our people? I thought you were one of us.” I am confident to say that the majority of these people who so impulsively congratulated me or criticized me did not take the time to look at Fox News Latino’s website. From seeing the type of content on FNL, I think it’s safe to say that if they were skewing one way more than the other, it would be to the LEFT.
@lancerios 